Revolts in the Phoenician cities
became more frequent under Babylonian rule (685-36 B.C.). Tyre rebelled again
and for thirteen years resisted a siege by the troops of Nebuchadnezzar (587-74
B.C.). After this long siege, the city capitulated; its king was dethroned, and
its citizens were enslaved.

The Achaemenids ended Babylonian rule when
Cyrus, founder of the Persian Empire, captured Babylon in 539-38 B.C. and
Phoenicia and its neighbours passed into Persian hands. Cambyses (529-22 B.C.),
Cyrus's son and successor, continued his father's policy of conquest and in 529
B.C. became suzerain of Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. The Phoenician navy
supported Persia during the Greco-Persian War (490-49 B.C.). But when the
Phoenicians were overburdened with heavy tributes imposed by the successors of
Darius I (521-485 B.C.), revolts and rebellions resumed in the Lebanese coastal
cities.

The Persian Empire eventually fell to
Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia. He attacked Asia Minor, defeated the
Persian troops in 333 B.C., and advanced towards the Lebanese coast. Initially
the Phoenician cities made no attempt to resist, and they recognized his
suzerainty. However, when Alexander tried to offer a sacrifice to Melkurt,
Tyre's god, the city resisted. Alexander besieged Tyre in retaliation in early
332 B.C. After six months of resistance, the city fell, and its people were
sold into slavery. Despite his early death in 323 B.C., Alexander's conquest of
the eastern Mediterranean Basin left a Greek imprint on the area. The
Phoenicians, being a cosmopolitan people amenable to outside influences,
adopted aspects of Greek civilization with ease.

After Alexander's death, his empire was
divided among his Macedonian generals. The eastern part -- Phoenicia, Asia
Minor, northern Syria, and Mesopotamia -- fell to Seleucus I, founder of the
Seleucid dynasty. The southern part of Syria and Egypt fell to Ptolemy, and the
European part, including Macedonia, to Antigonus I. This settlement, however,
failed to bring peace because Seleucus I and Ptolemy clashed repeatedly in the
course of their ambitious efforts to share in Phoenician prosperity. A final
victory of the Seleucids ended a forty-year period of conflict. The last
century of Seleucid rule was marked by disorder and dynastic struggles. These
ended in 64 B.C., when the Roman general Pompey added Syria and Lebanon to the
Roman Empire. Economic and intellectual activities flourished in Lebanon during
the Pax Romana. The inhabitants of the principal Phoenician cities of Byblos,
Sidon, and Tyre were granted Roman citizenship. These cities were centres of
the pottery, glass, and purple dye industries; their harbours also served as
warehouses for products imported from Syria, Persia, and India. They exported
cedar, perfume, jewellery, wine, and fruit to Rome. Economic prosperity led to
a revival in construction and urban development; temples and palaces were built
throughout the country, as well as paved roads that linked the cities. Upon the
death of Theodosius I in A.D. 395, the empire was divided in two: the eastern
or Byzantine part with its capital at Constantinople, and the western part with
its capital at Rome. Under the Byzantine Empire, intellectual and economic
activities in Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon continued to flourish for more than a
century. However, in the sixth century a series of earthquakes demolished the
temples of Baalbek and destroyed the city of Beirut, leveling its famous law
school and killing nearly 30,000 inhabitants. To these natural disasters were
added the abuses and corruptions prevailing at that time in the empire. Heavy
tributes and religious dissension produced disorder and confusion. Furthermore,
the ecumenical councils of the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. were unsuccessful
in settling religious disagreements. This turbulent period weakened the empire
and made it easy prey to the newly converted Muslim Arabs of the Arabian
Peninsula.

Source: Federal Research
Division of the Library of Congress and Wikipedia.

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